FARGO — Whether they stem from a sports-related injury or a car crash that seemed minor, brain injuries can be tricky to treat and difficult to recover from. Just ask a young Fargo mother of twins who never imagined that a fender bender would result in months of recovery and treatment. "Little did I know that was the start of the journey," Becca Gaikowski said.
Gaikowski is coming up on a special anniversary, or as she calls it, her "brainiversary." Gaikowski was rear-ended in a crash near Lindenwood Park in Fargo. Her head hit the steering wheel multiple times.
While scans and X-rays did not show anything amiss, Gaikowski's brain had been damaged. "I actually thought I felt fine," Gaikowski said. "I felt just off.
" Eventually, Gaikowski began to feel fatigue and brain fog. Treating her injuries was a team approach and required more than a year of therapy with multiple experts, including at Progressive Therapy Associates in Fargo. "If you met one person with a brain injury, you met one person with a brain injury.
No two people have the same needs," said Janet Grove, a certified brain injury specialist for Progressive Therapy Associates. Now, after all the work and help from the experts, Gaikowski is back at work and a mother of new twins, a long way from a time when she thought she would recover quickly on her own. "And some days, I wasn't sure I would get here, but now three years out, it is incredible," Gaikowski said.
"I have a fiance, a set of twins, I don't know, it is very humbling." Progressive Therapy Associates will host free brain injury screenings Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 835 28th St.
S., Suite B. Learn more about brain injuries by visiting the North Dakota Brain Injury Network's website at ndbin.
org..
